Teresa Dovalpage

Mercedes Spivey can't believe her luck when she wins a cruise for two to Cuba. It's her home, and her American husband has been invited to speak near the University in Havana. This solves the problem of transportation and cost. Her spidey sense goes on alert while on board the Nautilus. Running into not one, but two former acquaintances that link her to her former boyfriend, who died in a fire in Havana. I liked the bits in Havana, there was a lot of local color. Mercedes wasn't super likable, with her greed for a richer life almost predatory when revealed through the memories she recalls from the past.… (mere)

Mercedes can't resist taking advantage of a free cruise to Cuba, her former home. She and her husband Nolan embark - he has been invited to give a university lecture - and soon she begins to wonder if there's a cost, after all. One of the women on board disappears, and the cruise company seems more invested in protecting their reputation than taking responsibility. Meanwhile, Mercedes reconnects with her Cuban ex, with whom she had a stormy relationship.

While I didn't enjoy this book as much as the author's first, I appreciate that she gives her main character a distinctive voice and avoids making her a typical heroine. In fact, she's mercenary and her relationship with Nolan was largely based on improving her station in life - though his teaching career is on the rocks. It says something about the fraught relationship Cuban Americans sometimes have with their island home and the temptations of America, so close to Cuba, so far from god.… (mere)

Cozy Cuban Noir
Review of the Soho Crime paperback edition (2019) of the original Soho Crime hardcover (2018)

I enjoyed the variety of this first 'Havana Mystery' by Teresa Dovalpage which is an odd mashup of a food cozy with the underlying edge of the Cuban Black Spring of 2003. There are also shifts of PoV from the American protagonist Matt and Cuban police investigator Martinez and her past mentor El Padrino, who is actually the major detective in this case and apparently in the follow-up Havana Mystery #2 [book:Queen of Bones|45036550].

Retired police inspector El Padrino is also a Santeria priest, which adds a whole other element to the story. The inserts of Cuban food blogs are somewhat of a distraction from the forward momentum of the plot, but are still entertaining in their own way and add a somewhat foreboding edge to the story when you know how things turn out.… (mere)